Tom Riddle Has a Secret That Even He Doesn't Know About
by PotterPress777
Summary: Tom is on his way to Hogwarts to complete his seventh year of magical education. He knows as well as anyone that only wizards can see the castle for what it really is, but he does not suspect that his Muggle girlfriend, Donnell, has followed him on his journey! What will happen? Will she find out his secret? Will he find out hers?
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Hi, this is the author, PotterPress777, and I'd just like to say that in this version of the story, Tom lives in a house, not the orphanage, and he has a girlfriend. All rights go to JK Rowling, queen that she is, except my OC Donnell.**

"Tom? Are you even here? Where are you, I can't see anything?" Donnell poked her head out from behind the door. "Tom! It's not very funny!" She heard a noise, and spun around. There was Tom, leaning against the doorframe, his face cold and empty. And then suddenly he was smiling, lifting Donnell into his arms.

"Hello. I thought you knew I was leaving today!"

Donnell blushed. "Well, you know, I just wanted to - come on, stop smiling!"

Tom assumed an overly serious expression. "Go on," he said, in an extremely deep voice.

Donnell looked at him. "Why won't you tell me where you're going?" She paused. "I mean, you're not in the army, or something. Right?"

Tom smiled. "No, I'm not in the army," he began to say, but he was cut short by Donnell's exclamation.

"Oh thank goodness, I mean, not that you wouldn't do fine or anything, I just wouldn't want to…lose you."

"Well, that's a possibility wherever I go, isn't it?"

"Don't say that."

"I'm not."

They paused. Then, suddenly, Donnell rose from her perch on the banister, and walked swiftly towards the exit. "I lost you once, and I don't want to go through that again." She opened the door and walked out.

Tom shifted a little, then slowly raised himself. He reached into his pocket, and drew out a long, thin stick of wood. He turned towards the wall opposite to the stairwell, and tapped it three times with the wand. The wall sank back, as if made of rubber, revealing a man-sized cavity in the woodwork. Tom reached in and, with difficulty, carried out a black leather trunk with a faded crest on the side. If he tried, he could still barely make out the lion, eagle, badger, and serpent imprinted on the bag. He lowered it to the floor, and then, taking a deep breath, followed Donnell out of the house.


	2. Chapter 2: Followed

**Alright, this is the second chapter. Again, only my OCs are mine, JK Rowling owns everything else. This chapter has a sort-of cliff hanger, and it's much longer than the last one, which was really more of a prologue. Right now I only have one story follower, and I am hoping that this chapter will bring me more. But for now, thank you singular story follower for being supportive.**

The day was a busy one, and at ten-forty-two in the morning at King's Cross Station in London, it was too easy to get lost in the huge crowd of people separating Tom from the trains. He struggled through the thousands of people on the platform, craning his neck to see above the many heads. Try as he might, he had no idea where he was, or where he would end up if the crowd swept him away.

"Tom? Tommy, where are you? I'm lost, I can't see!"

Tom heard the cry like she was on the platform with him. He shook his head. Yesterday was over and done with, and Donnell would just have to keep on living without him. He roughly pushed past an old couple bickering about the ticket prices, and he saw it. The pillar separating platforms nine and ten was as worn as ever, the bricks about as colorless as last year, although, if Tom had looked a little closer, he would have noticed that there was a face watching him from behind the column that shouldn't have been.

Tom, however, didn't notice Donnell staring at him, and hurried towards the pillar. When he reached it, he put his right hand on the stone, experimentally. Nothing happened. The bricks remained bricks. He pushed. The bricks were still there, but Tom couldn't feel them anymore. He closed his eyes and walked slowly forward. He kept walking, and then opened his eyes. The sun had gotten brighter, it seemed, and the sky bluer. Or maybe it was just in contrast to the dark red steam engine waiting on the tracks. The lettering on the side was visible to everyone, including the girl who, following Tom through the barrier, had gotten her first glimpse of magic.

Tom walked swiftly towards the train, carrying his trunk. When he reached one of the doors, he lifted his heavy luggage with a grunt, and heaved it onto the rack provided. Following it, he did not notice that Donnell had slipped past him and gotten there first. Tom sank into the seat farthest away from the door, and began to think. He couldn't keep his identity from Donnell forever. She was bound to find out sooner or later, whether it was from him, or... others.

While reclining against the window, Tom started to form a plan. Smiling to himself, he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out an aging scrap of parchment. Glancing through the glass compartment door to make sure nobody was watching, he felt around in his pocket once more, this time producing a spectacular peacock feather quill that seemed much too small to fit. His grey eyes darting around before settling on the parchment, Tom began to scribble.

The train had set off and was well underway when there was a sudden jolt and the sound of a whistle. Tom set his parchment face down on the cushion next to him and, looking rather disgruntled, slid the compartment door open, poking his head out into the hallway to see what was the matter. Behind his back, a hand quietly descended from behind his trunk on the luggage rack and grabbed the parchment, turning it over and lifting it slightly. A pair of large brown eyes became visible out of the darkness as they widened, looking at Tom's nearly completed work.

When Tom turned around, shaking his head at the incompetence of the driver (seeing a tree on the line was not usually a problem for these kinds of trains), everything was just how he had left it. The parchment was laying face down on the checkered cushion next to where he had been sitting moments before. With a sigh, Tom snatched it up and slipped it back into his pocket. He then plopped back down onto his seat and squirmed around for a couple of minutes before finally drifting off.

Hours later, when the sun was just starting to dip below the trees, Tom awoke to a strange noise coming from outside his compartment. It was a tap tap tap as if a woodpecker had suddenly decided to take on the wooden doorframe. Tom, disoriented and confused, grasped at the parchment in his pocket. When he realized that it was safe, he swung himself up with the aid of the luggage rack (there was a squeak that he assumed was simply from the metal), and violently pushed the door open. A couple of heads poked out of the adjoining doors to see if everything was alright. When they saw a bedraggled boy with a thin, pale face leaning against the doorframe, puffing, they slowly retreated back into their own compartments.

As Tom stood there, his eyes fell on a small boy sitting at his feet. He had his wand out, and was rapping it against the wood. Every so often, sparks would come out and settle on the carpeted floor of the train. Tom racked his brains for a possible explanation, and when none came to mind, he knelt down and looked the boy in the face. His grey eyes were wide and innocent looking, and he had a welcoming smile on his face.

"What are you doing?" He asked quietly. "Why are you making that sound?"

The boy was sweating profusely, and wouldn't make eye contact with Tom even though their faces were less than three inches apart. Suddenly, he whimpered, tried to get up, tripped on the carpet, and fell onto his bottom. The boy started scooting down the hallway with a terrified look on his face, and he didn't stop until he had scooted all the way to the end and into an open compartment door.

Tom wearily slid his own door shut, and sat down again upon the ugly green checkered seat.

A few minutes later, when the twilight outside of the window had turned into full darkness, the lanterns in the hall were illuminated. Far away from Tom, at the other end of the car, a door slid open with a _swish_. A girl walked out. She had black hair, a face that was pale but flushed, and a Slytherin crest on her sweater. She looked back into the compartment one more time before starting to make her way through the train. On the seat under the lantern lay the small boy. He was curled up into a ball, and he wasn't moving.

 **Yay cliff hangers, right? No, not really, but I'll try to make the next chapter come faster, not sure though. I'm starting school in two days. Anyway, who is this mysterious girl? Could she be a rival? Or perhaps another love interest? Find out next time (I feel like a radio serial from the '50s)! Bye.**


	3. Chapter 3: Carriages and Cobblestones

**What will be found out in this chapter? Sadly, not the identity of the mysterious (and possibly murderous) girl… Nope, that comes later in the story. I'm cruel and I love it. Read on, reader.**

It was nearly eleven o'clock at night when the train finally creaked to a stop in Hogsmeade Station. Tom was sitting in his compartment, awake and alert. He had been that way since the strange incident earlier in the evening. He knew that the other students were scared of him, but that tiny boy had looked positively terrified! Pondering this, the jolt of the brakes made Tom nearly jump out of his skin.

When he settled down again, he waited until the train came to a full stop to get up. He reached up above his head, trying to get his enormous trunk down off of the rack. A tiny intake of breath, unnoticeable to Tom, came from behind the trunk. When he finally had his hands wrapped firmly around his trunk's edges, a magically magnified voice echoed over the sounds of chaos coming from the other compartments.

"All students, please exit the train. First years, report to Ogg, the school gamekeeper, at the other end of the platform. He will escort you to the castle separately. All others, get ready to board the carriages. Leave any luggage on the train, as it will be transported into the castle during the feast."

The voice ceased and the other noises of the train became noticeable once again. Tom, sighing, took his hands off of his trunk, and wiped them on his trousers. He slid open the door and took off down the hallway. There was a crowd of students standing in front of the door, so he stood off to one side until the group had dissipated. He stepped down onto the platform, feeling the cool breeze on his face. The evening was chilly, and Tom shivered as he walked through the archway leading into the village.

In the street stood a long line of black carriages with Hogwarts crests on their sides. Tom took his hands out of his pockets and jogged towards the one closest to him. Surprisingly, it was empty. He expected it to be full of giggling second years. Glad it was not, he jumped up the step and sat inside, ducking his head to prevent it from bumping the low roof.

Turning his head, Tom eyed the skeletal black horses stomping on the cobblestones in front of his carriage. He stuck his foot out of the door and gave one of them a little kick. It shook its thin mane and whinnied loudly. Tom sat back, crossing his arms and tapping his foot on the floor, until finally the carriage started moving forward with a jolt. Tom leaned against the back of the seat. He was thinking about the thestrals pulling him, for that is what the horses were really called, and how he had only started to see them last year after an unfortunate influenza epidemic in his hometown.

His mind jumped back to the small boy tapping his wand against the wall. Tom's brow furrowed as he tried to think of an explanation for the strange behavior. Maybe he had been sent as a dare, from some other student! Or, perhaps he was trying to jinx Tom somehow. The wind rushed past the tiny carriage as Tom thought. Every so often, Tom turned his head to look out of the window. The village outside was silent, all of its inhabitants probably in bed by now. The houses lining the cobblestoned street looked cold and dark. Of course, the looming castle towards which the carriage was headed was growing ever closer.

As the procession neared the huge, coal-black gates, Tom started to worry (he had a lot of things on his mind at this point), once more, about Donnell. She was always in the back of his mind when he left for school, but this time, she stood more prominently in the front because of something strange that Tom had noticed.

From his past experiences with Donnell, he knew that she could be quite an emotional person. Maybe he was imagining things, but she seemed not to be quite as torn-up about his departure as usual. Of course, there was the whole possibility that she hadn't been as keen on him since he started disappearing during the school year, but Tom knew that he made a good impression. Keeping a girlfriend was one of his chief skills, and he enjoyed Donnell, even if it meant keeping secrets from her.

Tom heard the clang of metal when the gates were drawn open to admit the carriages. Straightening up, he watched the horses for any sign of movement. When at last one shook its mane and they started clip-clopping forward, Tom kicked open the door and lunged to the ground. He'd decided to make a little detour.

Catching his breath, he crouched down in hopes of remaining invisible to the other students. Eventually, when all of the carriages had made their way through the gates and were trundling down a small driveway towards the castle, Tom stood up slowly. Keeping close to the sidewalk, he snuck down a little dark alley.

About five minutes later, he stopped and turned to his left. His breath hung in the crisp air, and his dark cloak was gently whipped around by the cool breeze. He advanced towards the dark brown side of the building, and, ducking under a clothesline, he took out his wand and muttered, "Abeo", tapping the bricks with it.

After a moment of waiting, one of the bricks melted away in front of him, followed by another, and another, until a rough set of stone steps became visible. Peering through the darkness below, Tom saw the twisting passageway disappear after the first few yards, obscured by the mist and the night. As he stepped forward, he reached for a lantern that hung on a rusted hook in a tiny alcove near the floor. Breathing deeply, Tom kicked some of the remaining bricks through the hole to make it big enough to fit through, and ventured down into the unknown.

A few minutes later, as he turned yet another corner, a light flared up in the passageway ahead of him. Tom's mind raced to come up with something harmless that it could be, and when he couldn't think of anything, he leaped back around the corner and pressed himself against the cold stone wall. His breathing had quickened, and he drew his wand slowly out of his back pocket.

As suddenly as it had appeared, the light flickered and went out again. Tom heard footsteps advancing towards him, and decided in a split second that he needed to make the first move. Silently and swiftly, he slashed his wand through the air in front of him, sending a jet of purple light towards the wall opposite him. It ricocheted and sped around the corner. Hearing a grunt and a _thump_ as something heavy fell to the ground, Tom knew that his spell had done its job.

Slowly, he crept around the corner. Looking down to the floor, he caught a glimpse of the dark shape partially obscured by a heavy black cloak. His eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. Dropping his wand to the floor, Tom turned and ran through the twisting passage and back up the stairs. When he got to the door, he stopped for a moment, almost turning back, but then continued to run down the alley and back onto the main road.

When he finally slowed to a stop, he had reached the huge gates marking the beginning of the Hogwarts grounds. They were closed. Tom stepped towards them, looking up to the top, easily one hundred feet above the ground. He reached out his hands to shake the bars, and, doing so, realized that he had no way to enter. After thinking about it, of course, he found that his only option was to go back through the passageway.

Denying his predicament, Tom sat down with his back to the gates and wrapped his cloak more tightly around himself. It was going to be a long night.

 **Haha. He totally deserves a little suffering, so you can't blame me. Anyway, next chapter's gonna be all about finding out things, so… Stay tuned! Also, sorry for waiting so long to update, I just started school.**


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